Memoirs of a Fortune Teller [Paperback]

Gary Turcotte (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 2008

Mary Ann was a carnival fortune Teller. She kept a journal of some of the most frightening and personal readings that she witnessed. She was often times entertained by some reading as well as disgusted or frightened. Mary Ann's entire life became consumed with reading fortunes and this book is a colorful look at her last years as the life of the fortune teller. Mary Ann shares the pain that being a fortune teller can bear on a caring person.

Product Details

• Paperback: 132 pages
• Publisher: Outskirts Press (October 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1432733427
• ISBN-13: 978-1432733421
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,316,395 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars I built it up too much, June 10, 2009

By 

Celia Flores "Lovz Books" (Orange County) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Memoirs of a Fortune Teller (Paperback)

Interesting story. In fact, when I first ordered this book, I was so looking forward to reading it. I mean, I'm a huge fan of supernatural elements. So I waited 'til I finished my last book so I could tackle this one. And I discovered that I had built it up too much.

I think the writing had massive potential, but the writer should've "appealed more to the senses" in the readings. Meaning, I would've liked to have smelled and tasted everything when she saw the visions. He did a great job describing the smoke break Mary Ann takes. But, on the other hand, he spent too much time describing how she ate a hamburger. Can you say boring?

Overall, this book could've used more editing.

3.0 out of 5 stars Quick thrilling read, June 8, 2009

By 

Valorie T. "Morbid Romantic" (VA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memoirs of a Fortune Teller (Paperback)

Mary Ann is a fortune teller traveling with a carnival. Her gift, passed on from mother to daughter at the time of death, is as much a blessing as it is a curse. Left behind is a diary of a few of her predictions, some of them disturbing and some of them inspirational. Mary Ann meets people who will have good things happen, who will die, who will molest, who will hurt, and who will be hurt. The major limitation to her power is that she cannot see her own fate but through glimpses in the fates of other people. Her visions make her an unfortunate witness to a murder, which she hopes to stop before it's too late. Aiding a police man named George whose fortune she earlier told, they try to pin down the murderer as a priest tries to save him.

There were things that I really enjoyed about Memoirs of a Fortune Teller and things that I did not enjoy. Overall, Memoirs of a Fortune Teller is a quick and thrilling read. I wish it were a bit more fleshed out, though, with ample detail given to some of the human interactions and emotions experienced by both Mary Ann and her clients. Mary Ann deals with a lot of trauma and personal reaction, so I think the book missed a lot of potential in keeping descriptions of behavior and reaction minimal. Also, it is unbalanced in how details are given. Mary Ann delivering bad news to a client is given in dialogue form with little reaction to heighten the emotion of the scene and make it real, yet we are given an entire page describing Mary Ann eating a carnival sausage, and another of her eating a candy apple. I wish it were the other way around.

Also, I found Mary Ann to be a bit inconsistent as a character. On one hand she is preaching to a preacher about Jesus and forgiveness, yet on the other hand she confesses to not helping a man out when his child's life was on the line because he was rude to her. I wowed at that because that is an awful thing to do! I couldn't imagine someone taking such a strong stand on how people should behave yet at the same time not even caring, indeed justifying, their own horrid action.

If added to and expanded, Memoirs of a Fortune Teller will make a wonderful suspense/thriller novel. With a murderer to catch and her own life on the line, Mary Ann could be developed into a strong, formidable female lead full of complex emotions that are tempered by all of the things she has seen and all the people she has met through her years as a traveling fortune teller. The events taking place could also be a little slower coming to raise anticipation for what is coming. The murderer could also be formulated a bit more, could stand in the background as a deeper, shadowy, and insidious character that hovers like a dark omen of doom, you know? I love a good bad guy and I wish he were more of a threatening presence to Mary Ann for a long period of time. I liked the book, really. But it is bare-bones and needs about another hundred pages of build up, suspense, and description.

4.0 out of 5 stars Something different., June 7, 2009

By 

Nancy "nssjc" (San Juan Capistrano, CA, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Memoirs of a Fortune Teller (Paperback)

Interesting reading. Needed to take a break from my regular reading choices. Sometimes, like a wine taster, you need a cracker in-between. Not all my cracker choices are good ones. I read this short book and enjoyed it. Books like this one get me out of my reading rut and open new possibilities. I enjoyed it.